Sesamestreet.com Signs Licensing Deal

Sesamestreet.com Monday said it has signed a licensing deal with Internet marketer 3Buddies.com to create a co-branded site with other 3Buddies partners hoping to leverage the non-profit’s brand assets — including the popular Sesame Street television show.

The announcement marks Sesamestreet.com’s first deal to license its characters and content to other sites.

According to the companies, TheFirstDay.com will offer free, personalized Web pages, guest books and online photo albums to the families of newborns.

Company executives say TheFirstDay.com will offer family and friends of the baby an enjoyable experience celebrating its growth, while enabling marketers to target a wealthy demographic.

“Sesame Street’s TheFirstDay.com will bring tremendous values to the many companies that are vying for the attention of this hot demographic,” said Michael Diamond, founder and chief executive of 3Buddies.com, which specializes in sponsorship and marketing partnerships.

Partners of 3Buddies.com and TheFirstDay.com include Fujifilm, PhotoWorks.com, eBiznotes.com, and Bounty SCA Worldwide, who will market to the site’s users through various deals, discounts, samples and service partnerships — for instance, eBiznotes.com will offer the site’s users the opportunity to send rich media birth announcements.

In addition to granting logo and character use, Monday’s deal gives TheFirstDay.com access to Sesame Street content through links to parenting articles and activities available exclusively on Sesamestreet.com.

Through the deal, 3Buddies.com and its partners land a potential gold mine with one of the most-recognizable brands in the children’s industry — especially high in name-recognition among new parents who likely grew up watching the Sesame Street television show, now in its thirty-first season on PBS.

“Today’s new parents are the first generation of Sesame Street kids to have grown up with the television show that began nearly 32 years ago,” said Sesamestreet.com group president Stephen Gass.

“In creating Sesame Street’s TheFirstDay.com, 3Buddies.com and Sesame Workshop are reinforcing this strong emotional connection by providing a valuable community-building service that allows families and friends to enjoy a child’s development together.”

The site plans advertise using LinkShare‘s ad-sharing network, which includes popular offline consumer brands including Hallmark.com, MarthaStewart.com and 1-800-Flowers.com.

Spending was not disclosed.